Last Hike with Friends of the Smokies: Newfound Gap to Kephart Prong

Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora) 2

Small or lesser purple fringed orchid (Platanthera psycodes)

Waterfall along the Sweat Heifer trail

View from A.T. heading North from Newfound Gap

Mountain/brook meadow-rue (Thalictrum clavatum)

bee balm (Monarda fistulosa [possibly?])

Fruiting clinton’s lily (Clintonia borealis)

Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora)

Scarlet or crimson bee balm (Monarda didyma)

Scarlet or crimson bee balm (Monarda didyma) view 2

Striped pipsissewa or striped wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata)

Well I have officially graduated from my AmeriCorps Project Conserve term of service with Friends of the Smokies. Here are some photos from my last guided hike with Friends of the Smokies on July 16 from Newfound Gap down to the Kephart Prong trailhead. This was a wonderful, mostly downhill hike, of about 7.5 miles.

On our hike there were at least two different species of bee balm with many scarlet bee balm plants. Also there were many indian pipes, which are actually a flowering plant that have no chlorophyll. They gain their energy and nutrients by using its roots to “steal” nutrients from a fungus which gets nutrients from a tree. The indian pipe gives nothing back and so is considered a parasitic organism. Click the link for more detailed information.

Classic Hike of the Smokies along Big Creek

Fire pink (Silene virginica)

Showy Orchis (Galearis spectabilis)

Possibly a little Brown Bat (Myotis lucifugus)

Big Creek

Unknown duskywing butterfly (Erynnis)

Dog Hobble (Leucothoe fontanesiana)

Unknown

Unkown

Wildflowers as seen on Friends of the Smokies‘ May Classic Hike of the Smokies. The bat was sadly seen flying in the middle of the day time which is unfortunate as it probably means the bat is sick.

Post Year in Nature Photography

Spring beauty (Claytonia virginica)

Lichen on snow

Hepatica sp?

Hepatica sp?

Unknown spring plant

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)

Well it’s been several months since my last post. My “Year in Nature Photography” project has concluded. I think in total I only missed 3 days and those were all in the last few months as I lost steam and grew too busy with work to get out and photograph anything. Even though I’m done with the original project I still want this to serve as a portfolio of my work so I will try and get through the backlog of photos and post some of the highlights.

The six today come from a scouting hike along the Hyatt Ridge Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park where Friends of the Smokies will be taking hikers on the second hike of their Classic Hikes of the Smokies. Spring is sprung at the lower elevations and we can expect to see many more flowers in bloom in the next week when we do the hike.